Teman was a place and a people in Edom, south of Israel, known in Scripture for wisdom. Jeremiah asks, “Is wisdom no more in Teman?” Amos and Obadiah speak against it, and Ezekiel names it among the places Edom will be made desolate from. Yet Habakkuk starts his song of praise with these words: “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran.” The name also appears in Genesis 36 as the land of Temani, where one king of Edom ruled. Obadiah is a short book, and a quiet place to read about the whole region.
6 verses
And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead.
Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.
But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Id. (1.) A grandson of Esau, one of the “dukes of Edom” (Gen. 36:11, 15, 42).
(2.) A place in Southern Idumea, the land of “the sons of the east,” frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. It was noted for the wisdom of its inhabitants (Amos 1:12; Obad. 1:8; Jer. 49:7; Ezek. 25:13). It was divided from the hills of Paran by the low plain of Arabah (Hab. 3:3).
William Smith, 1884
(the south).
(1.) A son of Eliphaz, son of Esau by Adah. (Genesis 36:11,15,41; 1 Chronicles 1:36,53) (B.C. about 1792.)
(2.) A country, and probably a city, named after the Edomite phylarch, or from which the phylarch took his name. The Hebrew signifies "south," etc., see (Job 9:9; Isaiah 43:6) and it is probable that the land of Teman was a southern portion of the land of Edom, or, in a wider sense, that of the sons of the east. Teman is mentioned in five places by the prophets, in four of which it is connected with Edom and in two with Dedan. (Jeremiah 49:7,8; Ezekiel 25:13) Eusebius and Jerome mention Teman as a town in their day distant 15 miles from Petra, and a Roman post.